Katie Holmes and Stacy Title to Direct First and Fourth Feature, Respectively

Actress Katie Holmes made the surprise announcement that she’ll be heading behind the camera to make her directorial debut. Holmes optioned Annie Weatherwax’s novel All We Head, a brutally truthful look at poverty that focuses on the relationship between a single mother and her 13-year-old daughter. The script will be penned by The Fault in Our Stars director Josh Boone.

“Katie has such a clear vision for the book’s irreverent, original mother-daughter relationship,” said producer Jane Rosenthal. “Her passion for the material, along with Josh Boone’s ability to tell stories grounded in the comedy and drama of everyday, will truly bring these characters to life.”

On the other end of the realism spectrum is the horror production just boarded by Stacy Title (Hood of Horror, Let the Devil Wear Black, and The Last Supper). Author Robert Damon Schneck’s creation The Bye Bye Man will be adapted into film about three college students who, like all horror protagonists, encounter some nightmarish atrocity and somehow aren’t traumatized forever. Let’s also note the good news that a woman is directing a genre film.

A TWC-Dimension exec endorsed the project by noting, “There are only a few truly scary and iconic characters within this genre, and we think the Bye Bye Man has the potential to be the next one.”